This section illustrates useful background information without admission of any technique described herein representative of the state of the art.
Numerous learning systems have been developed that analyse music that is pre-recorded or for which notes are already available. Such systems can display notes or chords for playing along at a set rhythm, often with further help of a metronome sound. Such systems are of great help for rehearsing to play pre-existing songs. However, as opposed to playing sheet music or music recorded somewhere by someone, it is possible and fun to just play along or jam in a group of two or more people. In such a jamming session, the players may simply start playing together (at same time or one by one) in a given musical style and musical key. Experienced players learn to recognise suitable patterns with which to proceed synchronised with other players without need to agree in advance and write down the notes or chords. Less experienced players typically just play a chord now and another then until they become skilled enough to begin playing along in an improvised manner without the support of sheet music.
The context of a jamming event drastically differs from that of self-exercising with help of a computer program that presents chords. First, there is no rhythm determined by a computer and often no metronome, either. The tempo may flow as the players please. Second, there are no predetermined progressions of the melody. Again, the players develop the music they play inspirationally. Absent the knowledge of what will come next, it is very difficult to play along without extensive experience. Whereas self-exercise systems may pre-analyse a song to be played, the jamming situation is incompatible with the pre-requisite requirements of such systems.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide real-time jamming assistance to help playing music along with other musicians.